Twenty brands of dietary supplements touted as so-called natural weight loss aids have been found to contain a prescription drug pulled from the market for safety concerns, the Food and Drug Administration warned today.

Products marketed under names like “A-Slim 100% Natural Slimming Capsules,” “P57 Hoodia,” “PhentaBurn Slimming Capsules,” and “Dream Body Slimming Capsules,” were found to contain sibutramine. That's actually the medication more commonly known under the brand name Meridia -- a prescription weight-loss drug that was removed from the U.S. market last October because it was linked to heart attacks and stroke.

Quote:

“Unfortunately this is not the first time that pharmaceuticals have been found in so-called dietary supplements,” Hurley said. “These kinds of announcements come from the FDA on a semi-regular basis.”

Marketers know that Americans are partial to products that sound like they’re all natural, Hurley said. “They claim that you can lose weight naturally just by taking a pill – a natural supplement that has no harmful effects,” he added. “There exists no such thing.”